Political Islam What is Political Islam in the contemporary Middle East?

WE WILL SEE SOME IMAGES ABOUT POLITICAL ISLAM How do we define political Islam?

Political Islam Given the images you just saw, what are some ideas you can share about the concept of Political Islam?

Political Islam Political Islam, or Islamism, is the phrase used to discuss associations, parties, and governments dedicated to the transformation of state and society so as to make them "Islamic.” These movements are a response to the contemporary world of nation-states. For this reason, some Islamists work within parliamentary democracies as part of the state (like Turkey). Others groups, are radical and seek to overthrow the state or impose a trans- national order often referred to as a Caliphate (like Isis).

Shadi Hamid, “What most people get wrong about political Islam” September 24, 2015, PBS Newshour “Islamism” has become a bad word, because the Islamists we hear about most often are those of ISIS and al-Qaeda. Most Islamists, however, are not jihadists or extremists; they are members of mainstream Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood whose distinguishing feature is their gradualism (historically eschewing revolution), acceptance of parliamentary politics, and willingness to work within existing state structures, even secular ones. Contrary to popular imagination, Islamists do not necessarily harken back to seventh century Arabia… How does Hamid’s definition of Political Islam compare and contrast with the one above?

DEVELOP A CLASS DEFINITION OF POLITICAL ISLAM

Shadi Hamid, “What most people get wrong about political Islam” September 24, 2015, PBS Newshour …If you go into the study of Islamism trying to compare Islamists to some liberal ideal, then that will distort your analysis. Islamists, after all, are products of their own political context, not ours. To us, democracy and liberal democracy might seem interchangeable, but, in the Middle East (as well as many other places), they’re not. In our own history as Americans, we followed a particular sequencing: first, the foundations of constitutional liberalism were established and only then did democracy — in the sense of universal suffrage, popular sovereignty, and full political equality of all citizens — become a reality (eventually). In many Muslim-majority societies, the tensions between liberalism and democracy are constantly on display. We might not like it — and, in some sense, we shouldn’t like it – but what if a majority of citizens in a given country want to pass legislation that bans alcohol, segregates the sexes at various levels of public schooling, empowers clerics, or “Islamizes” the educational curriculum? These are all things that, at some level, restrict or constrain individual freedom and liberty... What are some examples of Political Islam that Hamid presents? How are these representative of “Islamic” values? If citizens in vote for Islamic parties and/or approve of legislation that limit freedom, is that undemocratic?

What do opinion polls of Muslims in the Middle East (and beyond) tell us about attitudes toward democracy?

Work with a partner to answer the question using data from the charts.

POLITICAL ISLAM CASE STUDIES: IRAN, ISIS, AND TURKEY